Within the field of communications, the need for high-speed transmission of data has continued to increase, as customers continue to need more bandwidth to satisfy the growing needs. Moreover, in addition to the demand for higher bandwidth, there has also been an increased need for various types of services that employ different protocols. For example, certain customers (e.g., companies providing voice services) of high-speed networks want to operate on a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) Network, which combines different data streams, such as voice traffic, such that each data stream is assigned a time slot within the combined data stream. Moreover, other customers of high-speed networks may desire to transport data employing packet-based data streams, which do not have dedicated timeslots to given packets. Examples of the types of packets that can be placed into such data streams can include Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IP), Frame Relay, voice over IP and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) or Ethernet.
Network elements are used to route or switch data of these different protocols across such high-speed networks. Examples of the types of data signals that can be transmitted and received by these network elements include Digital Signal (DS)-1 and DS-3 signals, which include a number of channels. Examples of other types of data signals that can be transmitted and received by these network elements include signals based on the Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) standard or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) standard. Moreover, these network elements typically include a number of line cards that include a number of ports to receive and transmit these data. In order to accommodate the different protocol types, conventional network elements are designed and provisioned such that a given port on a given line card processes data of a particular protocol. In other words, a particular port is tied to a particular type of protocol. Disadvantageously, this limitation precludes the handling of data of different types of protocols for a given port of a network element.
Channels are communication pathways through which data are transmitted between network elements. For example, DS-1 and DS-3 signals comprise numerous channels for transmitting data between network elements. Sometimes when attempting to process data from a specific channel, a network element idly waits until either data arrives or a channel timeout occurs. Along with processing data, network elements also perform system maintenance to keep the network element running smoothly. For example, a given channel may be re-provisioned to process data of a different format. Accordingly, the channel is reset and re-provisioned based on the new format. To help illustrate, before a channel transmitting ATM data packets can transmit Internet Protocol (IP) data packets, the channel is reset and re-provisioned to process IP data packets. After resetting the channel, the IP data can be sent over the channel.